Over 2,200 independents lost in Maharashtra, Haryana polls

New Delhi, Oct 19: Over 2,200 independents have lost in Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections, results of which were announced on Sunday.

As many as 2,302 independent candidates--1,699 from Maharashtra and 603 from Haryana-- contested the assembly elections. Of these, only 11 could win and 2,290 others lost their seats, as per the results announced by the Election Commission.

Six independents from Maharashtra--Omprakash Babarao Kadu from Achalpur, Jadhav Patil Vinayakrao Kishanrao from Ahmadpur, Shirishdada Hiralal Chaudhari from Amalner, Ravi Rana from Badnera, Ganpat Kalu Gaikwad from Kalyan East and Fad Mohan Madhavrao from Pathri constituency--have won the elections.

Independent candidate Mahesh Kisan Landge was leading by over 15,000 votes against Shiv Sena rival Ubale Sulabha Rambhau from Bhosari constituency of Maharashtra, as per the trends.

Five independents in Haryana--Bhai Jaya Prakash from Kalayat, Rahish Khan from Punahana, Dinesh Kaushik from Pundri, Ravinder Machhrouli from Samalkha, Jasbir Deswal from Safidon constituency--have won the elections.

Deswal defeated BJP's Vandana Sharma, sister of Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, by a margin of 1,422 votes. A total of 24 independent candidates had won from Maharashtra in the last assembly elections.

Whereas, seven such candidates had won from Haryana in 2009 assembly polls there. There were 1,820 independent candidates in fray from Maharashtra in the last polls.

A total of 513 independents had contested last assembly elections in Haryana. About 4,119 and 1,351 candidates have contested elections from Maharashtra and Haryana this year respectively.

BJP won 45 seats and was leading in two constituencies in 90-member Haryana assembly. The party also won 101 seats and was maintaining lead in 22 constituencies in 288-member Maharashtra assembly.

PTI